1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to elongated catheters and, more specifically, to methods of manufacturing elongated catheters including a sensor and an extended working channel.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A common interventional procedure in the field of pulmonary medicine is bronchoscopy, in which a bronchoscope is inserted into the airways through the patient's nose or mouth. The structure of a bronchoscope generally includes a long, thin, flexible tube that typically contains three elements: an illumination assembly for illuminating the region distal to the bronchoscope's tip via an optical fiber connected to an external light source; an imaging assembly for delivering back a video image from the bronchoscope's distal tip; and a lumen or working channel through which instruments may be inserted, including but not limited to placement (e.g., guide wires), diagnostic (e.g., biopsy tools) and therapeutic (e.g., treatment catheters or laser, cryogenic, radio frequency, or microwave tissue treatment probes) instruments.
During particular procedures (e.g., microwave ablation and biopsy) a catheter having an extended working channel may be inserted through a working channel to enable navigation to sites too remote and having luminal diameters too small for the bronchoscope. Generally, a locatable guide is positioned at a distal end of the extended working channel to guide the catheter to targeted tissue. When the distal end of the extended working channel is positioned adjacent targeted tissue, the locatable guide is removed from the extended working channel. Then, an instrument may be inserted through the extended working channel in order to act on the targeted tissue (e.g., perform a biopsy or ablation of the targeted tissue).
There is a need for a catheter having an extended working channel that includes a sensor for locating a distal end of the catheter within the anatomy of a patient with the extended working channel open for insertion of an instrument.